Dundrum House operator makes fresh planning bid for wastewater treatment plant
The operator of a controversial Tipperary centre accommodating international protection applicants has launched a fresh bid to regularise its planning status.
Utmasta Ltd, the operator of Dundrum House in Dundrum outside Tipperary town, has applied to Tipperary County Council for retention planning permission to keep a waste water treatment plant that has been installed on the site.
The application comes after Tipperary County Council began enforcement proceedings over the installation of the treatment plant without prior planning permission.
This planning application is the latest in a long line of planning issues at the site, with An Coimisiún Pleanála ruling earlier this year that the IPAS centre had been operating without planning permission.
The ruling followed a Section 5 clarification request from the council, which asked whether changing the use of buildings at Dundrum House Hotel to accommodate international protection applicants and operate as an emergency reception and orientation centre constituted exempted development.
An Coimisiún Pleanála ruled that the change of use “is development and is not exempted development”.
A Section 5 is a formal ruling by a planning authority on whether a particular development is exempt from the requirement for planning permission.
The new application seeks retention planning permission for the waste water treatment system, together with associated plant, equipment, pipework, monitoring and sampling equipment and all associated ancillary works.
The waste water treatment system replaced the previously installed waste water treatment system, which was added in 2006.
An agent acting on behalf of Utmasta said that the retention application is not seeking to add a new treatment plant, nor is it seeking to increase the volumes of treated waste water that would be pumped into the Multeen River.
They added that while the current occupancy of the former hotel’s IPAS centre is 162, with plans to increase this number to 300 over the coming years.
“The treatment infrastructure has therefore not been designed solely around the current level of occupation but retains significant capacity to accommodate the anticipated future operation of the hotel,” the agent said.
The historic manor house of Dundrum House is a protected building, with the agent saying that the installed waste water treatment plant is “remote” from the protected building.
“There is therefore no alteration to the Manor House or any other protected structure, no demolition, removal or intervention in historic fabric, [or] no attachment of any element of the wastewater treatment system to the protected structure,” the agent said.
“This low-profile arrangement ... means that the wastewater treatment installation does not compete visually with the Manor House or any associated historic structures,” they added.
The agent added that the original waste water treatment plant would have been in place for almost 20 years, and that upgrades to the plant were needed.
“Over such a period it is foreseeable that wastewater treatment infrastructure, including pumps, tanks, pipework, controls, filtration equipment and associated mechanical and electrical components, will require maintenance, renewal and replacement,” they said.
Tipperary County Council is due to make a decision on the plans by October 23.